Wednesday of the 29th Week in Ordinary Time
Mass Readings
First Reading – Rom 6:12-18
Brothers and sisters: Sin must not reign over your mortal bodies so that you obey their desires. And do not present the parts of your bodies to sin as weapons for wickedness, but present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to life and the parts of your bodies to God as weapons for righteousness. For sin is not to have any power over you, since you are not under the law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Of course not! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, although you were once slaves of sin, you have become obedient from the heart to the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted. Freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 124:1b-3, 4-6, 7-8 (R.8a)
R. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
Had not the LORD been with us,
let Israel say, had not the LORD been with us–
When men rose up against us,
then would they have swallowed us alive;
When their fury was inflamed against us. R.
Then would the waters have overwhelmed us;
The torrent would have swept over us;
over us then would have swept the raging waters.
Blessed be the LORD, who did not leave us
a prey to their teeth. R.
We were rescued like a bird
from the fowlers’ snare;
Broken was the snare,
and we were freed.
Our help is in the name of the LORD,
who made heaven and earth. R.
Gospel – Lk 12:39-48
Jesus said to His disciples: “Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” Then Peter said, “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?” And the Lord replied, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so. Truly, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish the servant severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”
Featured Saints
St. John Houghton, priest and martyr (†1535). As Carthusian Prior of the Charterhouse of London, he was the first man to refuse to sign the Act of Supremacy which recognized King Henry VIII as Supreme Head of the Church in England, becoming the Protomartyr of the English Reformation, executed at Tyburn.
St. Gaudentius, bishop (†circa 410). Bishop of Brescia, ordained by St. Ambrose.
St. Bernard Calbó, bishop(†1243). Cistercian Abbot of the Monastery of Santes Creus, he was later elected Bishop of Vic, Spain
St. Anthony of St. Anne Galvão, priest (†1822 São Paulo). Franciscan Friar, an ardent devotee of the Blessed Virgin, noted for his gift of healing. First Brazilian-born saint.
St. Fructos, eremita (†715). From a noble Spanish family, he distributed his goods among he poor and took up his abode on a riverbank escarpment, where he lived as a hermit.
Blessed Thaddeus Machar, bishop (†1492). Irish noble, elected Bishop of Cork and Cloyne, he was obliged to leave his homeland due to hostility from those in power. He died in Borgo Sant’Antonio, Italy, during a trip to Rome.
Blessed Recaredo Centelles Abad, priest and martyr (†1936). Member of the Diocesan Confraternity of Worker Priests. During the anti-Catholic persecution of the Spanish Civil War, he was shot at the gates of the cemetery of Nules, Spain.
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